Annual Arts Survey Result Dashboard – 2021/22 Literary Arts

Physical activities

As the COVID-19 epidemic showed a sign of easing in 2021/22, the number of days opened for holding Literary and Reading Promotion Activities in this year was far more than that in 2020/21, although venues such as the Hong Kong Public Libraries were closed from early January to the end of March 2022 as the epidemic heated up again. Coupled with the resumption of large-scale events like the Hong Kong Book Fair, the number of face-to-face Literary and Reading Promotion Activities in 2021/22 has climbed from 202 to 1,108, returning to the level of 2019/20.

Data collection was expanded to cover Literary and Reading Promotion Activities organised by 23 independent bookshops this year. The number of Public Activities grew to 656 and was higher than the figures of previous years. On the other hand, as affected by the epidemic, the number of Children and Youth Activities only rebounded to 452, which was still lower than the level in 2019/20, and the proportion dropped from 51% in 2019/20 to 41% this year.

When analysing activity types, over four-fifths of the Children and Youth Activities were Reading Activities. While Talks including seminars and sharing sessions still constituted the largest share of Public Activities. Besides, there were more Public Reading Activities and Book Launches in 2021/22.

Excluding activities for which information was not available and did not involve specific works, 44% of the Public Activities** involved Literary Works such as prose, poems, novels and biographies, but the percentage was lower than the previous years. While the share of Public Activities involved Non-literary Works like history, travel, culture and arts, rose this year.

Below is an interactive dashboard of the physical Literary Arts statistics. Readers can click on the interested category of the charts. All figures can be downloaded as well.

* The number of Literary and Reading Promotion Activities in 2021/22 refers to the activities held during the financial year from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

** Some events involved works from more than one genre and each genre was calculated separately.

Online activities

Online Literary and Reading Promotion Activities increased 7.0% to 729 this year when Physical activities resumed. Among them, 174 activities were presented in hybrid mode for live audiences and online viewers, reflecting the new normal under the epidemic.